I have added aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright to my famous relatives pages. Our common ancestor is Samuel Wright. Samuel is my ninth great grandfather (twice). His lineage to the Wright brothers looks like this:
Samuel Wright (?-1665)
James Wright (1639-1725)
Samuel Wright (1674/75-1734)
Benoni Wright (1718/19-1761)
Dan Wright (1575-1832)
Dan Wright (1790-1861)
Milton Wright (1828-1917)
I always do some level of research before adding anyone to my famous relatives list. There is a lot of bad research out there and I would be doing a disservice to repeat it. My research into the Wright brothers proves this point. I was initially researching them because I read that they were descendents of Abel Wright, who is also a ninth great grandfather. Obviously, this wasn’t the case.
Abel and Samuel were amongst the founders of Springfield, MA (and possibly related). I have researched the first three generations of Abel Wright’s ancestors, so I am comfortable distinguishing Samuel’s lines from Abel’s, at least while they are in the Springfield area. The problem starts once they leave Springfield. Samuel Wright (1674/75-1734) relocated his family to Lebanon, CT. A descendent of Abel Wright (also named Abel) did the same thing and he also had a son named Samuel. The net result is two Samuel Wrights living in Lebanon around the same time. Abel’s grandson married Mary Case and Samuel’s grandson married Rebecca Sikes, thus making it easy to distinguish children of the two families.
Once I get through this hurdle, the research supporting the rest of the family connections seems to be sufficient, but not rock solid. The references are available through my Genealogy Database.
As a mentioned before, Samuel Wright (?-1665) is my ninth great grandfather twice over. My sixth great grandmother, Miriam Goss, was a direct descendant and she married into Abel Wright’s line. Abel Wright is my mother’s family. Another of Samuel Wright’s descendants was Carrie Jane Loveland and she married into my Wing line, which is my father’s side. While I have had many ancestors with common ancestors, this was the first time I discovered my parents’ trees crossing.